Booking future cruise excursions onboard

[uktog]

Azamara gives an incentive to guests currently on board if they book excursions for a future Cruise. This can lead to discount of up to 10% off the cost.

We have often done this in the past, and the excursions were paid for in dollars and charged to my credit card. This price included the 10% discount.

 

It is now a new process on board and it is so convoluted. I can’t imagine many people will use it in future unless they’re going to make significant savings. 
 

Firstly, for UK guests we cannot pay in dollars onboard as we used to when booking excursions ahead. The charge for the excursions is in Sterling and the exchange rate is penal. It’s $1.18 against a market rate of €1.25. The deal may be good for Americans. It’s lousy for all non dollar bookings. 

 

Secondly, the method of payment involves you having to make an appointment with shore excursions once you’ve agreed your selection to then be escorted,  I quote by the staff member to the concierge who can put the payment through to your card as shore excursions have no ability to take the money.  As they’re insisting that it’s paid for in sterling you can’t add it to your on board account or pay at guest relations. This is certainly how it’s happening on Quest and tying up my availability with when both shore excursions  and the concierge is available is a Pfaff
 

Thirdly, you do not get the discount now. You are given a piece of paper that you have to remember to take on your next Cruise (Although I have been told photograph of it would be acceptable) . You then have to visit guest relations who will apply the 10% discount back to the credit card you used, so effectively you are lending Azamara the full cost and the refund of the 10% only comes at the end of the cruise that those excursions were booked on   All very much stacked in the Cruise lines favour
 

As our excursions related to Japan which are very expensive and we are having a few it’s worth persevering to save the discount.
 

It feels like this is really a perk they don’t want to give you so they’re going to make it as difficult as possible particularly if you’re only booking lower cost, excursions and the savings are smaller. 

[blag]

31 minutes ago, uktog said:

Azamara gives an incentive to guests currently on board if they book excursions for a future Cruise. This can lead to discount of up to 10% off the cost.

We have often done this in the past, and the excursions were paid for in dollars and charged to my credit card. This price included the 10% discount.

 

It is now a new process on board and it is so convoluted. I can’t imagine many people will use it in future unless they’re going to make significant savings. 
 

Firstly, for UK guests we cannot pay in dollars onboard as we used to when booking excursions ahead. The charge for the excursions is in Sterling and the exchange rate is penal. It’s $1.18 against a market rate of €1.25. The deal may be good for Americans. It’s lousy for all non dollar bookings. 

 

Secondly, the method of payment involves you having to make an appointment with shore excursions once you’ve agreed your selection to then be escorted,  I quote by the staff member to the concierge who can put the payment through to your card as shore excursions have no ability to take the money.  As they’re insisting that it’s paid for in sterling you can’t add it to your on board account or pay at guest relations. This is certainly how it’s happening on Quest and tying up my availability with when both shore excursions  and the concierge is available is a Pfaff
 

Thirdly, you do not get the discount now. You are given a piece of paper that you have to remember to take on your next Cruise (Although I have been told photograph of it would be acceptable) . You then have to visit guest relations who will apply the 10% discount back to the credit card you used, so effectively you are lending Azamara the full cost and the refund of the 10% only comes at the end of the cruise that those excursions were booked on   All very much stacked in the Cruise lines favour
 

As our excursions related to Japan which are very expensive and we are having a few it’s worth persevering to save the discount.
 

It feels like this is really a perk they don’t want to give you so they’re going to make it as difficult as possible particularly if you’re only booking lower cost, excursions and the savings are smaller. 

All of this assumes that there are any excursions showing for the future cruise! We booked a cruise for April 2024 whilst onboard in Feb/March 2023. No excursions were listed for the future cruise! 

[uktog]

15 minutes ago, blag said:

All of this assumes that there are any excursions showing for the future cruise! We booked a cruise for April 2024 whilst onboard in Feb/March 2023. No excursions were listed for the future cruise! 

We have the same issue for a later cruise, the response was a shoulder shrug luckily I’m happy to DIY on that one

Edited March 2 by uktog

[uktog]

The pantomime gets worse. They want full payment including for the cruise to be able to process the payment. Trouble is, standard UK issue payment has been made to the agent but is not released to Azamara until sail date. 
So from what I’m being told basically in this situation I cannot buy excursions at 10% off. 
I’m trying to escalate matters 

 

[Grandma Cruising]

1 hour ago, uktog said:

The pantomime gets worse. They want full payment including for the cruise to be able to process the payment. Trouble is, standard UK issue payment has been made to the agent but is not released to Azamara until sail date. 
So from what I’m being told basically in this situation I cannot buy excursions at 10% off. 
I’m trying to escalate matters 

 

Interesting, that's not how it has worked on Pursuit. We were told we could book the excursions using the OBC for the cruise and have been given an invoice that shows they were booked using OBC Coupons. The exchange rate used was 1.25. We were given the 10% discount letter and were told that if we took it to shore excursions on the relevant cruise the 10% would go back onto our OBC.

[mole.man]

Does the discount apply if we book excursions on our cruise this month, March, for a cruise in September that we booked onboard lest October?

[uktog]

1 minute ago, mole.man said:

Does the discount apply if we book excursions on our cruise this month, March, for a cruise in September that we booked onboard lest October?

Yes they do

[uktog]

40 minutes ago, Grandma Cruising said:

Interesting, that's not how it has worked on Pursuit. We were told we could book the excursions using the OBC for the cruise and have been given an invoice that shows they were booked using OBC Coupons. The exchange rate used was 1.25. We were given the 10% discount letter and were told that if we took it to shore excursions on the relevant cruise the 10% would go back onto our OBC.

I think the issue arises when you are not using obc 

[fruitmachine]

14 hours ago, uktog said:

I think the issue arises when you are not using obc 

If this is consistently applied, it means that the first thing you should do is charge future excursions to your [in credit] onboard account, and only then charge anything else.  That way you'll get the normal credit-card rate on all your spend that's in excess of your onboard credit.

[uktog]

18 minutes ago, fruitmachine said:

If this is consistently applied, it means that the first thing you should do is charge future excursions to your [in credit] onboard account, and only then charge anything else.  That way you'll get the normal credit-card rate on all your spend that's in excess of your onboard credit.

Good point though I would still be in trouble with paying the balance 

[blag]

2 hours ago, uktog said:

be in trouble with paying the balance 

Why?

[PirateWife]

We have booked excursions on two future cruises while onboard. The cost of excursions booked was added to invoices for the future cruises and was offset by our OBC. In other words, we didn't pay anything while onboard for the excursions on future cruises. We were given the letter, showed them to the shore excursion staff when we went on the future cruises and were quickly credited the 10% to our ship account. I don't know if the credit would have been credited back to our credit card as the credit was used onboard for some specialty dining. I was delighted that I did not have to pay for the cost of those excursions over the amount of OBC I had when I booked them. Paying for them when the final payment for the cruise (120 days in the US) worked fine for me.

[uktog]

8 hours ago, blag said:

Why?

Because the balance for the excursions would be wrapped up with the cruise cost we’ve already paid so we still would be unable to pay them due to how their system appears to operate 

As our next cruise is in 28 days time there is some urgency to resolve this issue 

Edited March 3 by uktog

[Trvlingal]

So in Sept on the Quest we ran into the same "DEAL".  Had to FIGHT to get the letter and were told when we board later this month that we will get the 10% back AND we can get the credit card payment refunded and use our $1000+ obc to pay off most of the excursions.  I get they want to use our money.  My only concern is when I present the letter to them on Pursuit they will not honor using the $1000+ in obc to pay these excursions and not only will we have paid for them ahead of time but what the heck will we do with $1000+ in obc if we can't use it for the shore excursions. We aren't people who use the spa, nor do we drink much and the shops had high end merchandise.  So I'm holding my breath that they will honor what we were told  over and over again last year.  

 

[PirateWife]

Our OBC was applied to the cost of the excursions as a line item on our final invoices before we paid for the cruises. We only paid for the difference in cost between the booked excursions and our OBC. The letter about the 10% came to us with confirmation of the booking of the excursions.

[Grandma Cruising]

10 hours ago, PirateWife said:

Our OBC was applied to the cost of the excursions as a line item on our final invoices before we paid for the cruises. We only paid for the difference in cost between the booked excursions and our OBC. The letter about the 10% came to us with confirmation of the booking of the excursions.

Same here except that our excursions in total cost less than the Azamara OBC we had so nothing to pay, but perhaps Trvlingal's OBC is from a TA so not available to use before the cruise?

[uktog]

The system works if you are paying by obc, otherwise if your past your travel agents  final payment it doesn’t and no one can yet offer a resolution 

[Trvlingal]

This 10% deal came out last Sept while on our Quest Greece cruise.  They told us we could use our OBC for payment of the shore exc while we were still on that cruise and then the next day they came to us and said headqters wouldn't allow that.  We had to pay for those shore excursions on this next cruise on our credit card in full NOT with the 10% discount.  We were told when we got on the Onward in March that we could present the letter and get the 10% discount and we could also have the shore excursions costs refunded to our credit card and use the OBC for that payment.  As I said, we have a LOT of OBC and if we were given faulty info last year we would be quite upset.  This is a convoluted way of doing business.  I am a travel agent in the business for 43 years and this is an accounting nightmare especially when they can't get their bookings right anyway.  I've got a small group on this sailing and my husband and I can deal but the others may not be so forgiving!

[uktog]

We have resolution via a head office contact. They are aware of the issues with the system, particularly for those paying by card when there is still a balance due on their records for the cruise. They have escalated this as part of an IT fix bundle and new procedures will appear once the fix is in place. They fully acknowledge the current process is inadequate 

[Host Jazzbeau]

8 hours ago, uktog said:

We have resolution via a head office contact. They are aware of the issues with the system, particularly for those paying by card when there is still a balance due on their records for the cruise. They have escalated this as part of an IT fix bundle and new procedures will appear once the fix is in place. They fully acknowledge the current process is inadequate 

Great to hear that you have a resolution.  IT fixes, especially third-party fixes, take time.  But it's really good to hear that Azamara has this in hand and it will get fixed.

[blag]

12 hours ago, uktog said:

We have resolution via a head office contact.

I'd be grateful if you could explain in detail what the contact at head office did to resolve the problem. 

Edited March 6 by blag

[uktog]

1 hour ago, blag said:

I'd be grateful if you could explain in detail what the contact at head office did to resolve the problem. 

Made arrangements for the excursions (but not the cruise balance which is paid already but not transferred to the cruise line ) to be paid. 
That was all that was needed! 

[blag]

2 hours ago, uktog said:

Made arrangements for the excursions (but not the cruise balance which is paid already but not transferred to the cruise line ) to be paid. 
That was all that was needed! 

Thankyou.

[ghstudio]

We made three reservations for excursioins when on-board.  We then found a lower price on the cruise and our Original reservation was repriced at the lower fare. The reservation still shows the booked reservations, but at the full price, not with the discount.  Doesn't make sense.....but it's Azamara.....

[Homerody]

On 3/5/2024 at 11:20 PM, Host Jazzbeau said:

Great to hear that you have a resolution.  IT fixes, especially third-party fixes, take time.  But it's really good to hear that Azamara has this in hand and it will get fixed.

but it really should not be this difficult and this many hoops.

 

Hearing about fellow cruiser problem (on board recent Feb Quest sailing) with future booking pricing and related problems (noted in Roll Call post) - decided to wait for terra firma sales to minimize hassle factor and protracted back and forth to resolve any potential issues.